Chapter 43
Royal
Eventually Becki sleeps. Curled against me. Full of my seed, trusting me in a way that terrifies me more than guns or demons or Crowley’s sermons.
I kiss the top of her head, tuck the blanket around her, and slip quietly upstairs to breathe air that is not filled with the scent of her and the sin of what I just did.
The porch is cool. Cigarette smoke already hanging in the night.
Legend stands there, leaning on the railing, lighting a second one like he expected me.
He offers it without looking. “You look like a man who did something stupid.”
I take it. “You look like a man who knows exactly what stupid feels like.”
He snorts. “Sophie’s gonna bruise for a week.”
I smirk. “Becki already is bruised. Bleeding. Probably pregnant after tonight.”
He laughs softly and then sighs like the weight of the county is on his spine.
We smoke in silence for a while.
He glances at me. “You claimed her? For real?”
“She claimed me right back.”
Legend nods. Accepting that truth.
I almost tell him about Martin’s last words. About Old Man Montgomery. About Paradise Falls. About the money and the reason girls might’ve been disappearing long before Crowley sharpened his first sermon. Even about my masks. But Becki is finally home.
I’m finally allowed to keep her.
And Sophie may now be the only thing Legend cares about enough to kill for.
So, I keep my mouth shut.
For now.
Morning crawls in too fast. The clubhouse smells like coffee and fried bacon. Brothers argue over who lost what in last night’s bets.
I head to the bar. Sophie is there. Hair tied up. Dark circles under her eyes. But steady. Steel wrapped in satin.
She sees me coming and stiffens.
“Morning,” she says.
“Sophie.”
We stare at each other for a long moment.
“I know about your father,” I say. “How he’s involved in this sick shit.”
Her whole body freezes. I knew it. My hands curl into claws. Biting my lip, I close my eyes.
When I open them, she’s livid.
“Stop,” she says sharply, pointing. “Right there.”
“Sophie.”
“No.” She steps closer, voice low enough that no one else can hear. “You got what you wanted. Becki. Free and clear. No punishment. No exile. You keep her. You protect her. That was the deal.”
I hold her stare. I don’t look away.
She lowers her voice. “You open your mouth about my father, all of that changes.”
I reach out a hand. A deal sealing. A threat. An oath.
She hesitates. Then she takes it.
But I do not let it end there.
“Becki knows too,” I say.
Sophie’s jaw clenches. Hard.
“Then keep her quiet,” she says.
“You want me to cover for the Reverend’s sins,” I ask, my voice quiet but sharp.
Her eyes flash with something that looks like pain and fury twisted together.
“I want justice,” she says. “Real justice. Not a club vote. Not a bonfire. Not a body in a ditch. I am going to atone for every sin that man ever buried in this county. I am going to dig until I hit bone. And when I do, I will decide what gets exposed and what burns.”
She pulls her hand back. Wipes it on her padded vest. “And you’re going to stay out of my fucking way.”
I nod once. “You sure you can handle that alone.”
She smirks without humor. “I am a Montgomery. Alone is all we do.”
She walks past me. Shoulders straight. Steps steady.
Becki appears at the top of the stairs, wearing my hoodie, my claim carved into her back, her hair a mess from my hands, her lips still swollen from last night.
She smiles when she sees me.
I forget everything else.
Sophie glances back once. “Take care of her, Royal. Because if Crowley’s sins don’t come for her… Montgomery ones will.”
She leaves.
I breathe.
Becki walks toward me.
And somewhere in the dark corners of Hell, Kentucky, something shifts.
A war’s coming.
But love rules all. And I have finally claimed mine.
The End